The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1887-10-09
THE AMERICAN SHIP.
The PLAIN Duty of The American Nation


of w. w. Bates before the National Ship
ping League at Washington, will be read
with interest by all who desire this
country to resume her proper position
upon the sea, with ships built of Ameri-
can material, which is abundant and
available, and by American labor which
was never more readily obtainable:
WHAT IS A SHIP!
Mr.. President what is ship? and why
is she the Indispensable requirement-the
very thing needful for maritime nationI
Sir, a sea girt state must stand, one foot
on the sea the other on the land. Every
ship she builds widens her domain; every
ship she owns nets public gain; every
flag apeak signals national power; every
man employed makes the state secure.
Nations that cannot build their ships
cannot bridge the seas, carry on their
trade, or meet their enemies. Without
the naval power acquired from merchant
fleets We must pay our homage to-the
stranger In our streets.
Ii is this naval power coming from the
building and the using of ships that is of
priceless value TO nation like our own
republican, free and peaceful; industri-
Gus, prosperous and rich; a shining mark
for the envy, hate and greed of Europe.
1t matters not if true, that foreign flags
can build and carry cheaper than our
own. The national life and public safety
must not be exposed to sure destruction
through the want of merchant marine.
Statesmanship alone should deal with the
question of ships. No miserable economy
should smash, sink and destroy the real
means of our maritime defence.
Ships are engines of war no less than
tools of trade. Not only gun carriages,
but ramparts and fortresses. Not only
outlying parts of the national do
main, but the outworks, Notifications,
and champ ions of the nation. Shipbuild-
ing and navigation are classed with the
military sciences. Their constant prac-
tice prepares the country to defend its
rights, to preserve its freedom, and main
tain its rank. Without shipwrights and
seamen we can exert no naval power.
The men who build and sail our ships
may not be many, and may be poor; but
in the modern world, in terms of vantage
and times of war, they are worth as much
as all our farmers are. Ittakes all classes
and every industry to fill the national
want.
FEDERAL WISDOM.
| Our industries were never more pre-
dominantly agricultural than at the for
nation of the Government; but the
teachings of history were then well known
and wisely applied to every branch of the
public interest. Our fathers were not
ignorant that no maritime people ever
became strong and dominant, much less
independent, without first building a
marine, engaging in commerce, and thus
developing their naval power. They knew
that no maritime state. not building, but
buying its vessels abroad, ever became
commercial or naval. They had seen the
shipping of England drive out the Dutch
and French, and monopoliZe the trade of
all her colonies, and had felt the meaning
of that British metaphor that "the SOW
ereigns of the seas rule the world with
ease" They had the foresight to provide
an American marine to supplant and pre-
vent British monopoly of our ocean
trade, to the end that the liberties of the
American people might safely rest In
their own hands and the commerce Cf
the country be prevented from becoming
the indirect means of reinstatement to
the same old tyrant-the commercial
power of England-now stealthily accom-
plishing this very work.
THE KEY TO NAVAL POWER.
And, Mr.. President, there is a main
spring to that commercial power which
preserves the liberties of maritime ma
tions, and, it is said, may rule the world.
Its key is shipbuilding. Since vessels
were first sailed various states, from
Egypt to England, have held in turn the
sceptre of the sea. All but the last of
these rulers gave place to their successors
on losing the ability to build their yes
sells, or on failing to excel in the art and
mystery of skillful construction and safe
navigation. In our own times, We have
seen proud Britain, great as she is, hull
down astern following the United States
In the model of her ships. Then 1t was
that the good-for- r-nothingness of our
government, and the antagonism of our
lenemies, here at Washington, gave the
race to our aggressive rival. We have
also witnessed the greatest trial in his
tory of maritime nation to maintain its
Ipower of commanding the sea. That was
the difficulty of building British ships
without materials of home production.
Great Britain would have lost her naval
pre-eminence, and much of her CONNER
cial power, but for the timely adoption of
iron shipbuilding, by which alone she
was enabled to continue the construction
of her own fleets. From not herself pro-
ducing the material for wooden ships,
she had long been falling behind IN the
practice of building the best vessels.
With ample and cheap supplies of the
new stuff for ships, she soon forged
ahead in the production of tonnage that
} would pass inspection at Lloyds-good
enough for British necessity until the
, competition of the United States shall
compel the production of better ships.
THE VALUE OF PRACTICE AT HOME.
Without indigenous material and prac
tice at home in building and sailing ships
: the ability to lead the world In naviga-
ton is soon lost. England has been five
hundred years gathering the means OF
her presnt commercial greatness. In al
her history since she first imported
Italian shipwrights to build vessels fol
, the royal navy, the only danger to hel
continued ascendency sprang from the
difficulty of avoiding the importation o.
tonnage. Imported ships should, indeed
be "cheap," and in number, few. The
nation that would have ships to sail
itself must build its fleets. Great Britain
: with all her wealth could not afford Il
buy her ships abroad. Besides her los
, in coin and skill, the national detrimen
in various ways would greatly exceed tn,
advantages of lower prices for tonnage
> The commercial interest has Away
/, shaped her policy, and this has meyer TO
: one moment looked to the abandonment
: of home shipbuilding, or dependenc,
upon foreign shipyards for the supply o.
. merchant vessels-no more than for thI
: royal navy. Her "free ship" act so oftel
! praised and recommended for adoption
n does not so much as squint at the use o.
: any other than British ship for her rul
q of the open sea. 1t is practically nothing